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Seagrass meadows around the British Isles are home to many colourful and charismatic species, big and small.

Cod

Plaice

Pollack

Many important food fish like Cod, Plaice, Herring and Pollack use seagrass meadows as juveniles. In fact, it is thought that the majority of commercial fish species around the world all use seagrass for some part of their life cycle.

Cuttlefish

Herring

Stickleback

Cuttlefish are know to lay their eggs in seagrass meadows around the British Isles. Each spring, cuttlefish migrate inshore to mate and the females attach clutches of black eggs also called "Seagrapes" to the base of seagrass leaves. Juvenile cuttlefish, which are the size of a finger nail, can regularly be seen hiding amongst seagrass leaves during summer months.

Seahorse

Pipefish

Snakelocks anemone

There are two species of seahorse in the British Isles. These enigmatic fish, like their pipefish cousins, famous for the males giving birth, have a healthy appetite but small mouths so the large number of tiny shrimps which inhabit seagrass beds make them great places for these fish to forage. The snakelocks anemone lives permanently attached to the blades of seagrass and, like their close cousins the stalked jellyfish, they capture their prey using stinging cells in their tentacles, helped by the movement of the seagrass leaves through the water